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Long Island-class
The Long Island-class Light Carrier is one of the two primary carrier ships of the Earth Alliance Orbital Fleets. It would be introduced due to a need to bolster the mobile armor compliments of Earth Alliance Fleets. Therefore it is a cheap and rugged design that is used in large numbers by the Earth Alliance. Technology & Combat Characteristics When the First Bloody Valentine War started, the Alliance was caught flat-footed by the Mobile Suits deployed by ZAFT. The Alliance Mobile Armors only had numbers on their side when facing against the enemy. However, the Alliance had one small problem they only had one full carrier class and it doubled as a fleet command ship, though it did sport an entirely carrier driven sub-class even then these ships where quite expensive. While their other ships could carry Mobile Armors of their own it was not in sufficient numbers to overwhelm the enemy. So the higher ups decided it would be easier and cheaper to convert many of the aging Marsielle-III-class Transports into light mobile armor carriers. The Long Island-class Light Carrier would be the result of this refit, able to carry eight mobile armors it would be exactly what the Alliance needed to bolster a Fleet’s mobile armor compliment. The one problem with the design was the ships defensive armament of the ship was very light when compared to the other ships of the fleet. Even then the Alliance learned that these small carriers where quite easy to maintain and could be produce in large numbers very cheaply. Therefore the Alliance-controlled Atlas Fleet Yards would start construction new ships of this class to further bolster the Earth Alliance Fleets. While the new Long Island-class carrier is a great design, it still had many faults and weaknesses thanks in part to it being easy and cheap to produce. One main fault, is that the hanger of the ship takes munch of the mass of the ship and only a small amount is dedicated to crew quarters or crew amenities, not to mention ammo and weapon storage. This made the ship cramped to be in, and hard to move around from one side of the ship to the other. Another fault or rather weakness is the coverage of its CIWS weapons does not defend the ship entirely and has many blind spots thanks to this. However these carriers would quickly become well-loved by their crews even with these weaknesses, this thanks to the design’s sheer ruggedness and its ability to stay in the fight even when heavily damaged or its command tower destroyed. Later on during the later courses of the war, many of these ships where converted into new Kitty Hawk-class Light Carriers, which is a conversion so these ship would be able to carry Strike Dagger Mobile Suits into battle. These carriers dropped their complement to six machine to be able to properly support mobile suits. While not as good of a carrier as a dedicated mobile suit carrier like the larger, and expensive Archangel-class, they would still perform brilliantly during the later course of the war carrying their mobile suits to battle. However many Long Island-class, those that remained in their original configuration for whatever purposes, and several damaged Kitty Hawk-class refits would be retired after the war. A few would find themselves falling into the hands of various third party forces, pirates, and terrorists. After the end of the war the new Flight II Kitty Hawk-class Light Carriers, or better known as the Lexington-class, would be introduced which where built from scratch unlike the older Flight I Kitty Hawk-class ships. These new ships would remove the Agamemon-class inspired side catapults with a new centerline catapult that allows the carrier to equip Strike Packs onto their mobile suits. The new Lexington-class would be the only two ships in the post-war Alliance Fleet to sport interior linear catapults. Even than these carriers did managed to serve their main purpose and while many where destroyed by dedicated mobile suit attacks. They served their main purpose very well, and thanks to these small carrier. Alliance fleets could bring a lot more Mobile Armors to battle than normally they could. Armaments ;*GAU-110 75mm CIWS Guns :The Long Island-class sports eight of these guns for general anti-air purposes, mainly to prevent enemy mobile suits or missiles attacking the ship. However, one of the major weaknesses of the design is the poor placement of the guns which gives the guns a few "blind" spots where an enemy could easily get into to destroy the ship. ;*Type-V 25 cm Light Beam Cannons :A small anti-ship beam cannon that is mainly for use against small enemy targets like enemy mobile suits and light combat ships for it doesn't have the power to really be used against enemy ships. Therefore it is common for these guns to be used against attacking mobile suits to bolster the CIWS guns. However due to the limited range and coverage the guns can't cover the entire ship. Subclasses ;*Kitty Hawk-class Light Carrier :A late war refit to make the class into a light mobile suit carrier. Adds the ability to carry mobile suits, and drops its complement to six machines due to the needed larger hanger and support space. Can not be used with Strike-Pack equipped mobile suits due to the general introduction of the GAT-01 Strike Dagger. ;*Lexington-class Light Mobile Suit Carrier :An after war sub-class that is produced from the ground up to be a mobile suit carrier, therefore has superior handling facilities and the ability to carry Strike Pack equipped machines. A new frontal catapult has been added with the removal of the side catapults taken from the ''Agamemnon''-class Command Carrier which allows it to mount Strike Packs. ;*Adula-class Merchant Carrier :A variant equipped to be an Escort Carrier for deployed Alliance Convoys from merchant raiders and pirates. Able to carry four mobile armors, while still retaining the ability to carry a small cargo if needed. A famous member of this class would be the Alexis which traveled to Heliopolis Colony to transport the G-Weapon Pilots along with some last bit of supplies needed for the Earth Alliance's G-Project. It would be lost with all hands during the insuring battle sadly but it would be remembered as protecting an innocent colony. Notes & Trivia *'Design Note:' Basically a carrier version of the Mariselle-III Class Transport that is implied a couple times in the series but never really verified. Category:Mobile Suit Carrier Category:Light Carrier Category:Angelic Dawn Ships